Anxiety Go Away!

Anxiety symptoms are difficult to identify and may go unnoticed for long periods. They vary for all individuals and only persistence of certain discomforting signs brings the patient to medical practitioner. This is the reason for a delayed start of treatment for anxiety disorder in most cases.

Since anxiety is a group of disorders that affects the body and mind, the signs and symptoms of anxiety can be categorized as emotional and physical.

Emotional Symptoms Of Anxiety – Major and most common anxiety symptoms are persistent and severe feelings of worry, fear and stress. Negative and irrational thoughts are central to all kinds of anxiety disorders. Other symptoms which may be present are feeling of derealisation or depersonalisation, feeling as if the mind has gone blank, persistent feeling of dread and danger around, irritability, restlessness, trouble concentrating, hallucinations, suicidal feelings, fear of losing control and nightmares.

Physical Symptoms Of Anxiety – Anxiety symptoms that have physical manifestation and can be felt, heard, measured, or observed are “Anxiety Signs”. In case of severe anxiety signs, sufferers often mistake their anxiety for a medical illness. Commonly reported anxiety symptoms include -
Palpitations – This is an abnormal awareness of the pattern of heartbeat whether it is too slow, too fast, irregular, or at its normal frequency. Feeling of such sensation is normal in excitement, fear, following strenuous exercise or strong emotions. Palpitations can be felt in neck, throat or chest. Anxiety results in gush of adrenaline into the blood stream that makes the heart race and feel as if it is missing beats or beating slowly. This is discomforting but harmless sensation.
Sweating – Perspiration or sweating is a common anxiety symptom. Sweating is a normal reaction to body’s action of increased temperature. Anxiety and stress also triggers the brain and send signals to produce the hormones that make you sweat.
Shivering Or Shaking – It is body’s natural reaction to fear or drop in body temperature. Biochemical changes triggered in brain due to anxiety also cause the body to shiver or shake uncontrollably.
Shortness Of Breath – Feeling of breathlessness or difficulty breathing are amongst the most distressing anxiety symptoms. They give a feeling of suffocation and fear of death. It is just a sensation triggered by exaggerated nerve impulses and therefore is completely harmless.
Difficulty Swallowing And Dry Mouth – Fear of choking may make every meal a challenge in those suffering from anxiety disorder. Feeling of food stuck up in throat keeps them away from food. In some individuals, anxiety causes dry mouth making chewing or swallowing difficult.
Nausea, Vomiting And Abdominal Pain – Feeling of nausea is triggered by central nervous system in response to unpleasant sensations (taste, smell, anxiety). Vomiting or abdominal pain may not have a physiological cause but may be caused by brain signaling in response to anxiety.
The list of anxiety symptoms can never be comprehensive as individuals experience a variety of signs in response to anxiety and stress. Hot or cold flashes, headache, neck pain, insomnia, skin rashes, sexual dysfunction, diarrhea, rapid gastric emptying may also be signs of anxiety disorder.